Jin-Xiang Yu, Queens College GradJin-Xiang Yu recently graduated from Queens College, however that is only the beginning of her educational career. After three years at the Aaron Copland School of music, the soprano became just on...

Colvin Grannum, Bed-Stuy Restoration When Colvin Grannum was a child, he and his brothers took weekly walks through the neighborhood with their parents, who would chat up the neighbors and shopkeepers, all of whom were on a first-name...

Elvis Valdez, Master GardenerFor Elvis Valdez landscaping is a lifelong passion, and for the past 14 years he has worked with the Parks Department to beautify and maintain parks around the city. A 2006 graduate of the Master G...

Laura Ward, ChoreographerIf you asked Laura Ward's friends about her, they might tell you she's a dancer or they might tell you she is a conceptual artist who uses dance as a tool. That's because while she has been a dance...

Kristen Titus, Tech Talent PipelineIn an industry dominated by nerdy guys, Kristen Titus is turning the tide and leading the way in a city-wide effort to promote technology growth. The city's Department of Small Business Services an...

Brianna Rios, World Salsa ChampionBrianna Rios was first exposed to the world of salsa dancing at a young age, when after a vacation with her grandmother in Puerto Rico she came home to find her parents had started taking classes t...

Ronnie Minor, Housing AdvocateRonnie Minor has lived in Astoria since 1967. It's the neighborhood he belongs to, and the place he fights for as a community advocate. So when the city began dumping garbage bags in the middle of ...

Devon O’Connor, Welcome to Whitestone Devon O’Connor did not intend to start a civic group when he noticed that his neighborhood’s “Welcome to Whitestone” sign was deteriorating. He simply wanted to fix the sign, but as he talked with ...

Charles Barnett, PhotographerFrom the thousands of photos that 73-year-old Charles “Carl” Barnett has taken over the years, pictures from the 1964 World’s Fair shot with his uncle’s German Voigtlander camera are some of his fa...

Gina Argento, Co-Founder, Broadway StagesGina Argento is no stranger to being green. In addition to creating the world's first solar-powered sound stage in North Brooklyn, Argento along with her brother Tony five years ago founded Systems...

Philip McManus, Queens Public Transit CommitteeThe Rockaway community was nearly destroyed when Hurricane Sandy ripped through New York City back in 2012, but it did spark one resident to take action when it comes to public transportation on th...

Josef Szende, Atlantic Avenue BIDJosef Szende took over as the inaugural director of Atlantic Avenue Business Improvement District (AABID) back in April of 2012. Szende, currently a Brooklyn resident, studied at Columbia Universit...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pamela Hunt is so overwhelmed by her $56,000 in student loans for what she considers a worthless criminal justice master's degree that she's joined others on a "debt strike" and refusing to pay back the money.